In the right, but still paying the ticket

Monday

Feb 18, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 18, 2013 at 4:42 PM

Brent Lancaster / Times-News

They say you can’t fight city hall. Oftentimes, they are right.

On Monday, I received a $10 parking ticket in downtown Graham. On the list of nine ticket categories printed on the yellow envelope left under my windshield wiper, an “x” was marked on “Other.” A hand-written note next to it read “not a parking space.”

I’ve gotten a few parking tickets in my life. I have also been towed more often than I should really be admitting in this column.

The tickets were a source of slight annoyance. Being towed is a royal pain. You invariably have to get a ride to a sketchy part of town in the middle of the night and pay over $100.

These previous tickets and towings were pretty much all my fault. If you don’t pay attention to what’s around you, I keep telling my son, you are going to wish you had. I explained this to him again Saturday when the dog snatched a bagel out of his hand because he wasn’t paying attention.

I never tried to argue my way out of a tow because I was invariably talking to the guy who runs the tow yard who, A) didn’t make the decision to have me towed and, B) is usually armed. And besides, he has my car. When I argue about something I try to do so from a position of strength, and when a man with a gun has your car inside a locked gate you aren’t arguing from a position of strength.

So as an adult I’m pretty paranoid about where I put my car, and do a diligent scan for any signs or street markings containing the words “park” or “tow.”

When interns or visitors come to the Times-News, I always advise them to park in our lot instead of on the street. Burlington’s parking enforcement team seems to operate under the directive given in “Apocalypse Now” to “terminate with extreme prejudice.”

So that’s why I was surprised Monday to see that yellow envelope. I think I’m in the right here and I’d like to hear your opinion.

I parked in downtown Graham on Maple Street just south of the intersection with Harden Street just before the first driveway into the parking lot of Graham Presbyterian Church. I’ve been going to Graham at lunch for three years, and that’s where I always park.

I park next to a sign that says “Two hour parking: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.” That sign has always implied to me that I can park there, at least for two hours.

There is no “No parking sign” anywhere nearby. There are also no markings that indicate a parking space.

That was my problem, the parking enforcement officer at the police department told me. Without being in a marked space, I was parked illegally. There are marked spaces a little further south on Maple Street and my two-hour parking sign, I was told, applies to those spaces. Even though the sign doesn’t say that.

My thing, though, is that there are no signs that I know of downtown advising drivers that you can only park in marked spaces along the street. There are other streets downtown without marked spaces along the curb that also have “No parking” signs. Not so on my section of Maple Street.

As a parent, my stance is that not being caught at something previously is not a valid argument against being punished this time after being caught. But for our purposes here, I’m going to ignore that rule and remind you that I have been parking in that space since winter 2010. The signs haven’t changed. I’ve never gotten a ticket or a warning.

I asked the Graham parking lady to tear up the ticket. She said no. That’s fine. I’ll pay the $10. I won’t be a smart-aleck and send in 1,000 pennies, either.

I’m just stubborn enough, though, to still think I’m in the right on this one.

City editor Brent Lancaster can be reached at blancaster@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3040. Follow him at Twitter.com/tnbrentl.